Turbine-driven helicopter.



G. MEES.

TURBINE DRIVEN HELICOPTER.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 12, 1910.

1,047,266, Patented Dec. 17,1912.

Sleam UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAV MEES, OF CHARLOTTENBURG, GERMANY.

TURBINE-DRIVEN HELICOPTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 12, 1910; Serial No. 543,485.

Patented Dec.17, 1912.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GUSTAV MEEs, a citizen of Germany, residing atCharlottenburg, Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements inTurbine-Driven Helicopters, of which the following is 'a specification.

The subject of the present invention is a' flaring mouth. 'lVheels a, bare driven by the two blade rims 0 and d of a steam turbine likewiserotating. in opposite directions, the upper rim 0 of which is rigidlyconnected to the lower propeller wheel 6.

The propeller wheel I) mounted on a thrust journal is of the turbineshaft '10 rotates thus with the upper steam blade rim 0 fixed thereto inthe one direction; the tur-. bine shaft itself with the steam blade rimd tkeyed to its lower part and the propeller wheel a, keyed to its upperend. so as to face the contracted neck of screen S, rotates, however,in'the other direction. The lower end of the turbine shaft isconstructed as a steam inlet pipe, and it is supported by means of athrust journal in a suitable bearing fixed to a star-shaped frame orspider n, it, carried by screen S.

The necessary rigidity of the entire screen-construction is insured bythe tension wires '5, i, the steam inlet pipe R serving as a support.

The air drawn in and forced downward by means of the upper propellerwheel a, which has a fan-section, is thrown with great force .at theparabolically curved plane or mouth of the supporting screen S by thelower wheel 6 whloh rotates at a very highperipheral velocity; in likemanner also the exhaust steam from the steam turbine is thrown at thescreen. The vertical component of the'air and steam pressure soproduced, assisted by the rarefaction of the air, above the screen,enables the entire apparatus with the car attached to rise.

Owing to the opposite rotations of the two propeller wheels and of thesteam blade rims, the reactionary moment of torsionis neutralized in awell known manner. This moment would otherwise cause the whole apparatuswith the car to move in circles.

. It is assumed that the necessary steam for operating the turbine isobtained from a tubular boiler, preferably heated with liquid fuelplacedin the car. ,This steam is conducted to the turbine by means of a hose.The boiler can, however, obviously be fixed just as well on thesupporting apparatus shown in the drawing.

Theprinciple for the operation of the ar-' y rangement remains the samewhether I employ pure steam or a mixture of combustiblev gas and.superheated steam obtained from a suitably constructed working gasgenerator. A mixture of combustible gas and compressed air may be usedfor driving the turbine as well.

The driving of the propeller can be effectedinstead of by a steam or gasturbine by any other suitable engine. For example a rotary petrolengine'may be used therefor, the cylinders of which, connected in asuitable manner with one of the propeller wheels would have to rotate inthe one direction, while the crank shaft, connected with the otherpropeller wheel, would have to rotatein the other direction. The idealdriving machine for the propeller is, however, undoubtedly the steam orthe gas turbine.

I claim:

A turbine driven helicopter comprising an apertured screen, an axiallyextending rotatable shaft, a first turbine-like propeller wheel fast onsaid shaft, a second turbinelike propeller wheel rotatable around theshaft, means for rotatingthe wheels in opposite directions, a spidercarried by the screen, and a thrust bearing interposed be tween saidspider and shaft.

GUSTAV MEES. Witnesses:

HENRY HASPER, WOLDEMAR HAUPT.

